Stretch for Mobility
Posted on August 1, 2014 by bob in Moving Free
“…flexibility is the most ignored component of fitness”
Have you tried to pick a coin up off the ground lately? How about tying your shoes? Have you switched to slip-ons? What about reaching over the coffee table to scoop some dip on the other side? Remember when you didn’t think twice about those maneuvers? Sounds like decrepitude is setting in. Or maybe you’ve just lost some flexibility.
Flexibility is range of motion around your joints. There are two types:
— static flexibility (how far you can stretch and hold a body part);
— dynamic flexibility (how much range of motion you have when you move).
Both are important. In fact I consider flexibility one of the three main components of fitness, along with aerobic capacity and muscle strength. I recommend a flexibility program that incorporates slow dynamic movements like Tai Chi, as well as static stretches like Yoga.
In my experience, flexibility is the most ignored component of fitness. We do our cardio and our strength training but, unless we’re regular Yoga or Tai Chi, practitioners, flexibility is not on the menu. Why not? There are a couple of reasons. First, I think we don’t get it.
Flexibility doesn’t make our muscles stronger or our figures shapelier. We don’t realize how valuable flexibility is until we try to do something we used to take for granted, like reach around to the back seat to get our sunglasses. Even then we toss it off with, “Well, I guess I’m getting older”. We somehow don’t connect with the thought, “ If I’d been doing a little stretching all these years, it wouldn’t have felt like I was going to rip something just then.”
Secondly, there’s been lots of press about conflicting studies on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of stretching. Some studies say stretching improves athletic performance. Others say they’ve proved the exact opposite. Some studies say Stretching helps prevent injury. Others say it has no effect on injury prevention.
There’s enough conflicting buzz to make you not want to bother.
That’s too bad, because all that buzz masks the fact we do know stretching helps you gain and maintain flexibility.
Does stretching help prevent injury or aid athletic performance? I don’t care. I want to stay flexible as I age. I want to be able to pick up coins, tie my shoes and grab my sunglasses. Give me my dose of flexibility training!
Even if we were flexible as kids, as we get older, connective tissues, our tendons and ligaments, tend to lose water, shorten, and become stiffer. So we get less flexible. But it’s not too late.
Even if you’re not interested in the fine practice of Yoga or Tai Chi, barring some medical issue, there’s a simple way to help hang on to the flexibility you have, and work on getting some of that youthful flexibility back. A few easy stretching exercises may be the difference between living tight and living flexible.
Mirabai Holland, M.F.A. is a public health activist and authority in the Health & Fitness industry, specializing in preventive and rehabilitative exercise. Her Moving Free® approach to exercise is designed to provide a movement experience so pleasant it doesn’t feel like work. www.mirabaiholland.com.
